A California Girl's Place for all things Geek Chic

When it comes to ceviche every country does it a little differently, however, the one constant is fish is the star. That being said a good fish should be used and every ingredient that is put into the dish is to compliment the fish. My ceviche, having a strong baja influence, is simple but delicious. Ingredients: A good firm white fish like tilapia or Sheep’s head (which is what is pictured), about 3 to 4 filets finely diced. 3 to 4 lemons, juiced 2 to 3 limes juiced 1 orange juiced 1 bunch of cilantro chopped 1 onion chopped 2 serrano peppers finely chopped Optional: 1 package tostados Mayonnaise Taptatio (optional: you can skip the hot sauce if you want to or substitute a different hot sauce, but really tapatio is the best) In a glass or plastic bowl (it’s imperative that you DO NOT use any metal at all when making this) combine fish, onions, cilantro and peppers. Cover the mixture with just enough citrus juice so that it’s covered but not soupy. It should look like this:

Cover with plastic wrap and let it cook in the citric acid for a minimum of 5 hours. You can go in and stir it every few hours but it’s best to leave it alone. It’s finished when the fish is a nice white opaque color. I know a number of people like to just dig in with just tortilla chips, but the way we eat ceviche in my house is by spreading mayo on a tostada and then putting our ceviche on top of that. We then season to taste with tapatio. So it looks something like this:

As you can see from the picture below, the husband caught a LOT of fish on his latest ocean fishing outing. So over the next week I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes along with some more fish cooking tips.

When it comes to ceviche every country does it a little differently, however, the one constant is fish is the star. That being said a good fish should be used and every ingredient that is put into the dish is to compliment the fish. My ceviche, having a strong baja influence, is simple but delicious. Ingredients: A good firm white fish like tilapia or Sheep’s head (which is what is pictured), about 3 to 4 filets finely diced. 3 to 4 lemons, juiced 2 to 3 limes juiced 1 orange juiced 1 bunch of cilantro chopped 1 onion chopped 2 serrano peppers finely chopped Optional: 1 package tostados Mayonnaise Taptatio (optional: you can skip the hot sauce if you want to or substitute a different hot sauce, but really tapatio is the best) In a glass or plastic bowl (it’s imperative that you DO NOT use any metal at all when making this) combine fish, onions, cilantro and peppers. Cover the mixture with just enough citrus juice so that it’s covered but not soupy. It should look like this: Cover with plastic wrap and let it cook in the citric acid for a minimum of 5 hours. You can go in and stir it every few hours but it’s best to leave it alone. It’s finished when the fish is a nice white opaque color. I know a number of people like to just dig in with just tortilla chips, but the way we eat ceviche in my house is by spreading mayo on a tostada and then putting our ceviche on top of that. We then season to taste with tapatio. So it looks something like this:

As you can see from the picture below, the husband caught a LOT of fish on his latest ocean fishing outing. So over the next week I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes along with some more fish cooking tips.

Last weekend the husband went out on an all night fishing trip bringing home about 9lbs worth of fresh catfish. If you have ever watched River Monsters you’ll know these fish are not pre pretty. They are bottom feeding beasts that make for some good eating.

Frankly the best, and quite possibly the only way in my opinion, to cook catfish is to fry it. When it comes to frying, the batter you use, whether it be wet or dry, is one of the most important things to consider.

For the catfish I used a mix of plain, fine ground, bread crumbs and Cajun seasoning. You can either get the Cajun seasoning pre mixed or put it together yourself. I also added in some extra red pepper because the husband likes his catfish a little on the spicy side. Once you have the breadcrumb mixture put together the way you like it set it aside. I like to use vegetable oil for my frying. Get the oil nice and hot. Test a small portion of the fish in the oil. If you touch it down in the oil and it sizzles then it’s ready. Never put fish in cold or luke warm oil (unless you like soggy fish)

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Dredge the catfish in lightly whisked eggs and then in the breadcrumb mixture. Fry for about five minutes on each side or longer if necessary, until it’s golden brown. Catfish is one of those fish that you can’t really over cook. You want cook it longer than you do other fish otherwise it will have a bit of a muddy flavor to it.

There are a variety of things that you can serve with Catfish but my preferred side dishes are cornbread and greens. I got the cornbread recipe from Teenie Cakes which I found on pinterest. It was amazing. The only deviation I made in the recipe was add more corn and cheese.

The greens were easy to make. I sautéed some bacon ends and then added 4 cloves of garlic, swiss chard, collard greens and dandelion greens.

Unset jam seems to be plaguing me this week. Having made approximately 3 dozen jars of jam I have been dealing with several jars that haven’t set. Which leaves me with the decision: do I fix it or move on?

In most cases I will fix it but in other cases I don’t fix it. For those jams that I don’t fix I use them in some tried and true recipes.

Sidecar:

This Sidecar consists of soda water, light rum and strawberry jam syrup. Very delicious if I do say so myself.

Last summer I made aprium rosemary jelly and yes it does taste as amazing as it sounds but it didn’t set. So my go to, I don’t know what I am going to make for dinner tonight dish has been chicken breast cooked in white wine and aprium rosemary syrup with extra sprigs of rosemary.

There is also the possibility that one of your failures can surely be a triumph in disguise. Case in point:

I experimented by making strawberry banana jam which of course didn’t set. However, I stumbled upon the best syrup ever.

That my friends, was the version of This little piggy that I learned growing up. Pasta Fazool or Pasta e Fagioli if you are from northern Italy or frequent the Olive Garden, it one of my favorite soups. I personally like to think of it as Italian chili. My version is perfect for Mondays 1. because it’s meatless and 2. because I throw it into a crock pot on Sunday night and then let it cook all day on Monday, while I am at work.

Ingredients:

1 can whole pealed tomatoes

1 cup vegetable broth

2 cans kidney beans

2 carrots chopped

1 onion chopped or sliced (whichever you prefer)

1 can great northern or cannolini beans

1 cup cooked penne pasta

Instructions:

Like I said, dump into a crock pot the broth, the beans (with the juice), onion and carrots into the crock pot. The ingredients don’t even need to be 100% thawed. (i use my own homemade broth so i just usually dump it in frozen). Season with oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low for 7 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

The pasta. I like to cook the pasta separately and then add into the soup bowls just before serving. (in the picture above i have pasta stars in with the penne because I miscalculated how much penne I had in my cupboard)

And as a side note in case you have the whole where’s the protein battle with your family the combination of beans and pasta creates a perfect protein so there is no need for meat.

The other day I got a call from my friend Sarah (or as my husband likes to call her, my organic food drug dealer) got a great deal on strawberries which I was able to get my hands on at a whole sale price. How could I resist?

Two flats later (and some very cramped stained fingers) I was up to my eyeballs in washed and hulled strawberries. The next question is what am I going to do next?

So far I have made 15 jars of classic strawberry jam, 7 jars strawberry rhubarb jam and a very very messy kitchen.

My poor stove!!

but it is completely worth it!

I broke the strawberries up into 3lb ziplock bags. I have about 3 more packages to go. I have a few experiments to try out this weekend…Don’t worry, I’ll post my results.